Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again to reflect on the weekly updates and take a peek. Twas the week before Christmas and all through the store, there was a lack of good holiday updates which seemed quite the bore. But to all of the readers still snug in each bed, a list of neat updates I’ve put together in my head. After sorting and curating them all with great care, I’ve written them all in a list just down there. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper or by participating in the TouchArcade forum. This weekly summary is just here to make sure you don’t ignore ’em. As we all prepare to relax with our kin, let’s remember our usual practice and dig in!
Jetpack Joyride, Free That Back to the Future update came and went pretty quickly, which makes sense if you think about it. Will Barry Steakfries miss out on a chance to celebrate Christmas? Not likely! And so here we are, with a holiday-themed update for Jetpack Joyride. There are some new Christmas gifts you can earn by playing the game and collecting flying baubles, and the whole lab is decked out for the season as usual. Surely appreciated if you’re among the people still regularly checking in on this classic title.
Choice of Games, Free It was only a week or two ago that we got a new addition to the Choice of Games hub app, but there’s one more sneaking out before the end of the year. 7th Sea: A Pirate’s Pact is a 200,000 word adventure set in the world of the tabletop RPG 7th Sea. Written by Danielle Lauzon, this one sees you joining a pirate crew and trying to make your way in a very dangerous world. Gather power, fight for what’s right, pursue love, or do whatever the heck else you want. Who’s going to stop you? You’re a pirate! Just be careful how deep you go into the life, because getting untangled is another proposition entirely.
Minecraft, $6.99 I feel like I wrote about this already. Hm. Well, that’s neither here nor there, I’m sure. This update adds some new animals. Pandas! Stray cats! It also adds bamboo, because pandas! But you can also use the bamboo to make scaffolding! Not for pandas! But for building things more easily, which if you think about it might have been something good to add to the game a while back. Those stray cats will chase away phantoms, by the way, so it might be good to befriend some of them. They’ll show up in villages.
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free Fire Emblem Heroes is starting to lose ground to its younger brother Dragalia Lost, but it’s still thriving quite nicely. The latest update to the game adds the much-anticipated Book III to the game’s main story mode. Will this story go somewhere interesting? Or will it keep with Fire Emblem tradition and just devolve into silliness? I know where I’m putting my money! But hey, even if you don’t care about the story, it’s more content and free orbs for the harvesting. This update also adds First Summon Tickets, which can be exchanged for free summons.
Dragalia Lost, Free Being that I am a denizen of the Canadian App Store, I haven’t had a chance to play much of Dragalia Lost. It seems to be getting on well with everyone, though, so that’s nice. The latest update adds an Advanced Dragon Trial, fixes up some bugs, and does some of those magical performance improvements that seem to underpin much of the post-release work on games. This update also sets the stage for story Chapter 7, which will be available from December 27th. You can also get some bonus wyrmite by logging in from today until the end of the year.
PIXEL PUZZLE COLLECTION, Free Konami’s finest game of 2018 seems to have met with surprising success, and is as such getting more post-release support than you might have expected for a free game with no IAP. This time around, we get a new game mode that will unlock after you’ve finished a certain portion of the existing content. So if you thought you were finished, think again. Come back to the Pixel Puzzle Collection. Never leave again. NEVER. Oh, and bug fixes and performance improvements! What’d I tell you?
The Escapists: Prison Escape, $4.99 Ah, nothing speaks quite to the holiday spirit like a bunch of people confined against their will in an uncomfortable atmosphere, yearning to escape at all costs. Family dinners, am I right? The Escapists likes its seasonal events, and that means it probably loves Christmas. This update adds a new prison called Jingle Cells for you to come to grips with, and also fixes some bugs and makes some improvements because… well, you get the pattern by now. Enjoy the new prison! You won’t be able to escape uncomfortable political discussions with Uncle Jim at your grandma’s dinner table so easily!
MARVEL Strike Force: Squad RPG, Free With most of the world entering the Spider-Verse this last weekend or soon after, the time is right for Spidey-themed updates to Marvel games. And that’s what this is! I didn’t do that intro just for my good health, friends. Anyway, new playable characters are here. They are Miles Morales and the Green Goblin. There are some new event campaigns. Some of them are Spidey related, others are not. And there are some bug fixes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still bugs! They are, after all, a key feature of this game. I think. I mean, if they’re not, woof, what a goof-up.
Knights Chronicle, Free Knights Chronicle is certainly a chronicle of some knights. Which knights? Just some. You don’t know them. They’re from Canada. The latest update adds in Lydia’s Epic Quest, which is exactly what it says on the tin. So take Lydia out on an epic quest to end the year, and enjoy the bounty contained within. This update also adds some new heroes and costumes, a guild castle system, expanded levels for guilds and guild skills, and improved guild battle rewards. Guild! Some UI fixes and other improvements round things out here.
Pokémon GO, Free That thing everyone wanted added to Pokemon GO is now in Pokemon GO. How about that? Yes, now you can challenge nearby trainers to a battle to see who is the best like no one ever was. You can also engage in trainer battles with the three team leaders, and that’s pretty neat because they have interesting designs and should be used more often in general. You can earn rewards from these battles apart from a glowing sense of pride, too. Oh, and if you ever wished there was a little more variety in terms of hair and skin colors when customizing your trainer, you’re in luck. Now maybe everyone won’t look like the same two or three people. I’m giving this the coveted UMMSotW award for this week just for fulfilling so many dreams. Way to Christmas, everyone!
That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!
